Some, too, may be surprised that the chronologies of Egypt and Babylonia and Assyria should be treated as fully as they are in Part I, [Chapter I], § 5, and [Chapter II], § 5, but in the writer’s view this treatment was necessary and appropriate for several reasons: (1) The data on which these chronologies are built up are for the most part the fruits of archæological research. (2) They are our only means of measuring the antiquity of civilization, since the Bible itself affords no continuous system of chronology.[2] If the student of the Bible is to have any intelligent idea of what “the fulness of time” (Gal. 4:4) means, he should know what the sources of our chronology are and how they are rightly used. (3) Such a presentation seemed all the more necessary because in many books, especially those of some English Egyptologists, the materials are employed uncritically, and civilization is made to appear much older than it really is.
To accomplish all these aims the writer has adopted the following plan: In three chapters the archæology, history, and civilization of Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria, and the Hittites are briefly treated, together with the discoveries which especially interest the Biblical student. These are the three great civilizations which preceded the Israelitish. A much more detailed treatment is given to Palestine, to which [Chapters IV-XIV] of Part I are devoted. In the [last chapter of Part I] an attempt has been made to present the discoveries in Greece and Asia Minor which throw light on the New Testament. In [Part II] the texts, Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Hebrew, Moabitish, Phœnician, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin, which bear on the Bible, are translated. They are arranged in the order of the Biblical books which they illuminate. Each translation is accompanied by a brief discussion in which its chief bearing on the Bible is pointed out.
In conclusion it may not be out of place to offer a word of guidance to two or three classes of readers. Those who are not interested in the history of Babylonia and Egypt, but wish simply to know what has been discovered in those countries which throws light on the Scriptures, should turn at once to Part I, [Chapter I], § 7, and [Chapter II], § 7, and to the translations of the various texts in [Part II]. A reader that is interested especially in Palestine, rather than in the ancient civilizations to which the Hebrews were indebted, should begin Part I at [Chapter IV]. Possibly after he has read that which the Holy Land has contributed to the understanding of the Bible, he may be ready to give a little attention to such outlying peoples as the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Hittites. In that case he will turn back and read [Chapters I-III].
Pastors or Sunday-school teachers who wish to employ the book as a tool by means of which to study certain texts or lessons should follow a different course. These will be able with the aid of the full index of Scripture references to turn at once to all the material bearing on the passage in question. If the use of this index does not afford all the information desired, reference should then be made to the analytical table of contents at the beginning, or to the index of subjects at the end, or to both.
It is the writer’s hope that, in addition to its use as a book of reference for the elucidation or illustration of individual texts, there may be some who will enjoy reading the whole work, and who will find, as he himself has found, that every scrap of knowledge of ancient life in Bible lands serves to make the Bible story and the lives of Biblical characters so much more real, or puts them or their words in a perspective so much more clear, that the eternal message comes with new power and can be transmitted with greater efficiency.
PART I
THE BIBLE LANDS, THEIR EXPLORATION, AND THE
RESULTANT LIGHT ON THE BIBLE AND HISTORY